NBC, CNN back out of Clinton TV projects

NEW YORK — For a couple of months, NBC and CNN had been working on high-profile television projects about Hillary Rodham Clinton. Within a few hours on Monday, both projects were dead.

NBC said it was pulling the plug on a planned four-hour miniseries on the Democratic former first lady and secretary of state. “Hillary,” which was to star Diane Lane in the feature role and appear before the 2016 election, was the target of external protests and internal unhappiness at NBC.

Earlier Monday, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who was making a documentary about Clinton for CNN said that he was backing out because few people would cooperate with him. The network said the film would not be produced.

The Republican National Committee had protested both projects, fearing they would lionize Clinton when she might be a candidate for president. The RNC said it would not allow either network to air televised debates among potential GOP candidates for president for 2016 if the films continued.

NBC Entertainment issued a statement saying that “after reviewing and prioritizing our slate of movie and miniseries development, we’ve decided that we will no longer continue developing the Hillary Clinton miniseries.” The statement gave no reason for the change, and spokesman Richard Licata did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The announcement by NBC’s entertainment division this summer that it was making “Hillary” took people in the network’s news division by surprise. They were concerned that the news division would be blamed if the entertainment series took liberties with facts or leaned too far in making a positive or a negative portrayal of Clinton.

NBC News Washington correspondents Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell made their unease about the miniseries public.

CNN, meanwhile, had contracted with Charles Ferguson to make a documentary on Clinton. Ferguson won the 2011 Academy Award for his documentary “Inside Job,” about the 2008 financial meltdown. But Ferguson wrote in a column posted on The Huffington Post on Monday that he concluded he couldn’t make much of a film: Clinton wouldn’t agree to be interviewed, and of the more than 100 people he approached only two who had dealt with her agreed to speak on camera.

Ferguson said nobody was interested in helping him make the film.

“Not Republicans, not Democrats — and certainly nobody who works with the Clintons, wants access to the Clintons or dreams of a position in a Hillary Clinton administration,” he said.

“It’s a victory for the Clintons, and for the money machines that both political parties have now become. But I don’t think that it’s a victory for the media, or the American people. I still believe that Mrs. Clinton has many virtues including great intelligence, fortitude and a deep commitment to bettering the lives of women and children worldwide. But this is not her finest hour.”

NEW YORK — YouTube is launching its own music awards and Lady Gaga will perform at the first-time event.

The Google Inc.-owned company announced today that Eminem and Arcade Fire also will perform at the YouTube Music Awards on Nov. 3. It will take place at Pier 36 in New York City and stream live online.

The awards show will honor “artists and songs that YouTube fans have turned into global hits over the past year.” Nominees will be announced Oct. 17.

Actor Jason Schwartzman will host the YouTube Music Awards.

o o o

NEW YORK — AMC says Sunday’s “Breaking Bad” finale seized a record-breaking number of viewers for the series. The concluding episode was seen by 10.3 million viewers. That was three times the audience for the midseason finale airing a year ago.

The network says an expanded one-hour version of its “Talking Bad” discussion after-show delivered 4.4 million viewers.

The drama’s popularity has soared during its five-season run, while it reaped acclaim and awards. At last week’s Emmy Awards it collected a best-drama-series trophy and a supporting-actress statuette for Anna Gunn, who played the wife of teacher-turned-drug-lord Walter White opposite series star Bryan Cranston.

The series’ previous record was set last Sunday, when 6.6 million viewers tuned at the same time as the Emmys.

ERNEST — The Todd Bird Club will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Blue Spruce Lodge at Blue Spruce County Park in Ernest.

Club members Flo and Jim McGuire will present a slide program of their recent birding trip to Cuba. The McGuires traveled with a National Audubon Society-sponsored birding and cultural group and local ornithological guides to several areas of the island, where they pho